Luke McAlister made his All Blacks debut in the third Test against the British and Irish Lions at Eden Park in 2005 and notched 13 points with the boot.

His debut came at fly-half, but it is at inside-centre that he is most effective, using his physicality and pace to forge a path into opposition defences. A solid goal kicker, his stints at fly-half nevertheless became more and more infrequent following his move to Guinness Premiership side Sale in 2007.

While playing his club rugby for North Harbour and Super Rugby for the Blues, McAlister was included in the All Blacks squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. In July he announced that he has signed for Sale, one of the first of that crop of All Blacks to take a sabbatical in the northern hemisphere.

Stockport-based Sale was a natural fit for McAlister as he spent a sizable portion of his youth in nearby Manchester, living in the north east of England while his father, Charlie, played rugby league for Oldham, Castleford and Sheffield Eagles.

At the World Cup McAlister played in four of the All Blacks' five games, including their now infamous 20-18 loss to France in the quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium. In a hugely important moment of the game McAlister was sin-binned for obstruction as France came back to win.

McAlister proved to be a success with Sale, winning over Premiership fans with many direct and effective performances but in February 2009 he announced that he would be returning to New Zealand at the end of the season after re-signing with the NZRU. He subsequently re-joined North Harbour and the Blues.

He was also granted an exemption making him available for the All Blacks despite not having featured in that year's Super Rugby, but failed to nail down a spot in the starting side and eventually slipped from the Test landscape in 2010 despite a strong showing with the New Zealand Maori.

Having made a promising start to the Super Rugby season in 2011 with the Blues, where he featured prominently at fly-half, he announced that he would be returning north to join French giants Toulouse on a three-year deal.

McAlister was due to line-up in the 2011 ITM Cup for North Harbour but he failed to turn up for training in the week of their opening clash with Otago. McAlister has since asked for an early release from his NZRU contract, but his new side, Toulouse, are refusing to pay the release fee.